So today I am randomly up 2 whole pounds. I can come up with no real explanation for it. The only thing I did "off plan" was have a single piece of cake at my DHs birthday. Seriously though, can one piece of cake add 2lbs? What the heck is going on here?
I guess it would depend on the size of the piece. =) If you downed 7000 calories in one piece,then yes. Otherwise, look for the likely sources of water weight gain, as that's almost certainly what it is. Sodium? Sudden spike in carb intake? Hormones? TOM? Ovulation? New exercise routine? Working out harder than normal? Or, if you don't feel like playing detective, just accept that the scale is not a good indicator of fat loss. It's the best tool we have, but is a highly unreliable one for tracking body composition. Just have faith that if you stick to plan, you will see a whoosh eventually. Cuz everyone needs cake every now and then. Hope it was tasty!
Last edited by LaurieDawn; 08-11-2014 at 10:30 AM.
The scale can be so frustrating and downright mean. When I know that I'm doing everything I can, I just put it away for a few weeks. There is no way you gained 2 lbs. of fat from a slice of cake. LaurieDawn provided a great answer as to what could be causing the scale to be so annoying. Hang in there.
Well the "cake" was actually a homemade cake that consists of a crushed pretzel crust so I suppose that might be a load of salt in there. The rest of it is a cream center made of pudding mixed with coolwhip and a little condensed milk, with crushed raspberries on top. It was a 4x4" piece so even if it tried I don't think it could muster up 7000 calories.
The cake sounds extra yummy but I doubt you ate 7000 calories even if you had the whole cake. It's probably water weight and it could be from anything. Don't worry.
I weigh every day. I graph it. Why? Because one day I will be sitting at 181 lbs, and the next I will be at 184 lbs. It's so very bouncy. The overall slope of my graph is what I care about, and so far that is a healthy loss.
Days I go up, are Shark week days, or when I had a lot of sodium but little water. Those days are always the worse. I will also toss in a cheat day and the next day it's a HIGH bump (I like salty foods on cheat days) and a few days later it's a huge drop.
I like to measure my success in how loose my shorts are (they fell down while exercising!), how GREAT I feel. So awake and happy. Less Acne. The slope of my graph is going down. My arms are looking more toned. I do those and it's a lot more worth it than another lb on the scale.
Do you weigh daily? I do and i know for a fact my weight varies a lot. Salty food are the worse and the next day i'll be 2 to 3 pounds up. Sometimes my weight goes up for no aparent reason only to drop a few days later.
I can add 4# of water in a matter of hours if I tangle with artificial food colorings. In my case, that water retention is a systemic inflammatory response. Naturally, I do go out of my way to avoid doing that to my body now!
I feel your pain. I'm about to stop weighing everyday because its driving me nuts. I think the weight gain is also probably water weight. You don't gain pounds from one slice of cake when you're on a calorie deficit (for real). However, if your body is not used to processing that kind of carb, sugary treat with a lot of salt, its very possible your body is having a mini freak out while it sorts itself out. Just continue with your healthy lifestyle, drink lots of water, maybe don't look at the scale a few days, and I'm sure it will come back down soon.